TORONTO – Two Hollywood heavyweights filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Media mogul Oprah Winfrey are teaming up for Spielberg’s DreamWorks Pictures’ The Hundred-Foot Journey, which follows the fateful lives of the Kaddam family as they are displaced from their native India. The family seeks refuge in the south of France and soon settles in the small but picturesque village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val.
Upon arrival, the Kaddam family, led by Papa (Om Puri) and his son Hassan (Manish Dayal) decide to open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. When the new restaurant opens one hundred feet away from a prestigious, Michelin-starred French eatery, Le Saule Pleureur, an all-out war arises between the two restaurants.
Competition soon dies down after the proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), acknowledges her rival’s undeniable passion and flare for French cuisine. Madame Mallory soon embraces the new Indian flavours Hassan and his family have brought into the quaint French village. Madam and her enchanting sous chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), so inspired by Hassan’s Indian cuisine, create a culinary fusion of cultures.
The Hundred-Foot Journey portrays the inspiring tale of triumph over exile. The film is full of passion and heart, pyaar and parivaar. It is a story of two worlds colliding and one boy’s drive to find the comfort of home, in every pot, wherever he may be.
Co-producer Oprah Winfrey had this to say about the film: “Food allows [us] to blend cultures and gives us the ability to peek into other people’s lives. It is about a hundred foot divide between cultures. It’s about human beings coming to understand other human beings and more importantly, after you get to experience or step into somebody else’s shoes or see them for a real human being, how you understand that you’re really more alike than you are different.”
The film was directed by Academy Award-nominee Lasse Hallstöm and includes a brilliant international cast. The movie is produced by Academy Award-winner Spielberg, Academy Award-nominee Winfrey and Juliet Blake.
